Garage



July 19.- 1927.

. E. GEIGER GARAGE Filed Feb. 18.. 1926.

2' Sheets-Sheet I mvgNToR Ernst Ger/g ATTORNEYS Patented July 19, 1927.

UNITED STATES ms'r GEIGER, OI IRSVINGTON, NEW JERSEY.

GARAGE.

Application fled February 18, 181 38. flerlal No. 89,281.

I cars may be handled with ease and expedition, either when moving the cars-into the storage space or driving them out of the garage. 1

A more specific object of the lnventlon 1s 10 to provide a garage which may be of relatively restricted cross sectional area. but which may be built up to any desired height, and the cars to be stored conveniently carried to a considerable distance above or below the ground floor.

Preferably I provide any suitable number of endless conveyor elements mounting temporary storage cabins, into which the cars are driven. The endless conveyors may be conveniently manipulated to rapidly bring any storage cabin into position for permitting a car to be driven out of the garage.

The endless conveyors and the cabins which they carry preferably travel about a central space of the building which may be used asa permanent storage space, and may be horizontally subdivided into any number of floors.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the cars are driven in to one side of the storage cabins, rotated partially around the central storage space and driven out of the other side of the storage cabins. Preferably two road levels are provided, one for driving in the cars, and the other for driving out the cars. The cabins by proper manipulation of the endless conveyor may be moved into alignment with any of the fioors of the central storage space, so that cars may be driven from the cabins on to one side of the storage floors, and driven into the cabins off the other side of the storage floors. It is to be noted however, that while I refer to the use of permanent storage floors, one feature of the invention is the storage of vehicles in movable storage compartments or cabins which may be conveniently shifted to some distance from the point of reception or delivery of the cars, and so constructed that any storage compartment may HEISSUED be conveniently moved to discharging or delivery position at any time.

With the above noted and other objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts, as will be more fully hereinafter set forth and pointed out in the claims. The invention may be more fully understood from the following description in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein- Fig. 1 is a view in vertical section. through a garage embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. I

Fig. 3 is another fragmentary vertical sectional view approximately on the line 3-3 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 4 is .a sectional plan view on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3. 4

It is to be understood that the drawings which form part of this application are illustrative of only one embodiment of the invention. and are by no means to be interpreted in a limiting sense.

In the drawings I have shown a building including side walls 10, a' front wall 11 and a roof 12. A driveway 13 enters the front of the building at the ground floor thereof and communicates with a downwardly inclined runway 14 for entering cars, and an upwardly inclined runway 15 for cars which are being driven out. The roadway space between the two runways may be conveniently occupied by a building structure such as 16 housing all of the controls for the motor mechanism to be later described, and provided with windows 17 through which business may be transacted. with the drivers of the cars as they pass down the runwa 14 on to the lower floor 18, or as they pass 111 the next higher floor 19 down the runway 15.

The building space indicated by the reference character 20 at opposite sides of the entering drive 13 and above the drive, may be conveniently used for oflice space or as a ermanent storage space for cars, as will be later understood.

At each side of the building there is provided a vertical shaftway 2 1, and in these shaftways (are mounted pairs of vertical guideways 22 for guiding the movement of storage cabins 23 carried on endless con-' travel thus pass completely around a central space which is preferably vertically divided into a number of floors 31 upon which cars may be permanently stored or stored for long periods of time. -As best seen in Fig. 3, the floors 18 and 19, and also all of the storage floors 31 above them communicate by doorways 32 with the shaftways 21 so that by horizontally ali ning the cabins 23 with any-floor, a car may e driven from the cabin on to the floor at one side of the building or from the floor on to the cabin at the other side of the building.

Obviously some means must be provided for guiding the movement of the endlessconveyors and the cabins which they carry from one shaftway to the other. In the upper space the large sprocket wheel 25 is of sufiicient size to eifect the transfer from one shaftway to the other, its diameter equalling the distance between the center of one shaftwaly and the center of the other shaftway. n passing through the lower space at 30, the sprocket chains travel between pairs of arcuate guide rails 33. Preferably each endless conveyor assembly includes two conveyor chains 24 and cross rods 34 which connect the chains, and from which the cabins are hung for free swingin movement. The weight of the cabins wil retain them in horizontal position as they are transferred from one shaftway to the other, either above sprocket wheel 25 or the guides 33.

Numerous expedients might be resorted to for properly driving the sprocket wheels 25. I prefer to employ driving gears 35 keyed to turn with the sprocket wheels and driven by worms 36 carried by shafts 37 which are journalled in suitable bearin hangers 38. Shaft 37 may be driven throng any suitable gear train indicated at 38 by motor-.39.

As seen by the fragmentary plan view, Fig. 4, there may be any suitable number of endless conveyor units and associated series of cabins. As for the construction of the cabins themselves, I prefer to use cabins of duplex type, that is to say, cabins which embody a ceiling 40, floor 41, and a central horizontal partition 42 which divide the cabins into u per and lower storage compartments 43. l am thus able to effect considerable space economy without rendering the cabins too large for convenient manipulation by the conveyors.

As suggested above there is preferably a setof suitable cont-r01 mechanisms not il-- lustrated, housed within the building structure 16, and with such control mechanism 'course be numbered. The owner when callmg for his car will present a ticket indicatingthe particular cabin number within which his car is stored, and the operator may shift one the sets of endless conveyors in either direction to bring this cabin most expeditiously into alignmentwith the delivery floor 19 Whether the space between the shaftways is used as an airshaft or for the accommodation of stored cars, or for any other purpose, is of course a matter to be decided in the ease of each garage structure, and

will depend upon the requirements of the trade. V

The device of the present invention may be built as an addition to apartment houses and may be constructed in numerous ways other than that shown. In some instances,

the cabins serve as elevators rather than as storage compartments, but in a preferred embodiment of the invention the cabins are used for storing and not merely for transporting the vehicles.

Various changes and alterations might be made in the general form and arrangement of parts described without departing from the invention.- Hence I do not wish to limit myself to the details set forth, but shall consider myself at liberty to make such changes and alterations as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim: 1. In a garage structure, a central storage space vertically subdivided in a plurality of storage floors, endless conveyors running around the central'storage spaces, automo bile storage cabins carried by the convey-c. ors and adapted to .be aligned with either side of any storage floor, certain, of said lower floors constituting. receiving andfdelivery fioors for incoming and outgoing automobiles, and inclined runways connecting the receiving and delivery floors to a common driveway at the ground floor of the certain ofsaid lower floors constituting re- 10 structure. ceiving and delive floors for incoming and 2. In a garage structure, a central stor-' outgoing automob' es, inclined runways conage space vertically subdivided in a plunecting the receiving and'delivery floors to 5 rality of storage floors, endless convey-, a common driveway at the ground floor of ors running around the central storage the structure, and a house mounted centrally 1 spaces, automobile storage cabins carried of the driveway between the runways. hi the conveyors and adapted to be a 'gned with either side of any storage floor, ERNST GEIGER. 

